Dianna

Certified Tutor

I am a professional math teacher who has over 13 years of tutoring experience, 4 years of high school math teaching experience, and is working on an engineering degree after leaving the classroom to pursue tutoring full-time. I absolutely love my job! I have chosen to continue to tutor math, because tutoring allows for me to give students the individual attention that they sometimes just can't logistically receive enough of in the classroom. I love tutoring because it allows for me to connect with students, give them useful organizational skills, and to get to know intimately what makes the learning experience most positive and effective for them as an individual. I love helping student's attain their "Aha moments" ! Furthermore, I take pride in the fact that I have the patience and experience to stick with my students as long as it takes to get to those moments. We all learn differently because we all have different experiences and histories: this is something that I think is beautiful (and it should be celebrated)!

As someone who studied both math and psychology in college, I think that I bring a fresh and useful perspective to the math education landscape. My research in college focused on the neuroscience of empathy, and I was deeply fascinated with cognitive psychology, the intersection of STEM with the psychology of creativity, and the power emotions hold in terms of motivation. My diverse academic background is an asset to my students as it allows me to connect with students of all backgrounds and to understand math education through a variety of lenses.

As far as the details of my experience go, I bring experience with a wide range of education platforms, backgrounds, and grade levels to the table, wherever I work. I started tutoring privately at the age of 14: specializing in mathematics, English, and Spanish at the time, but my true love quickly revealed itself to me as mathematics. I took that 4 years of love and experience with me to my work as a tutor at Northern Arizona University where I tutored students in one on one settings, tutored students in group settings, graded papers, held review sessions as a Calculus tutor, and mentored other tutors as a tutor/team lead for the online math placement test tutoring program on campus. I worked in online, in-person, and hybrid settings for about 4 years while completing my degree at Northern Arizona University. When I graduated from college I took what I learned in my various roles at NAU as a mathematics tutor, and applied that knowledge to the classroom. I worked at American Leadership Academy for 4 years. While there, I taught at their Queen Creek and Gilbert North Campuses during the school year and facilitated a hybrid math learning course for a Summer Session at the Ironwood Campus. While teaching at ALA's campuses, I worked with 7th-12th graders teaching: Algebra I, Algebra II, and Algebra Concepts (a special education course for students who needed to learn algebra at a slower pace than the student's in the general education classroom setting), and Success Lab (a hybrid learning lab for students in middle school math, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Precalculus). I worked with advanced students as a coach for the Gilbert North Campus's math team and I worked with struggling students with disabilities while co-teaching a special education Algebra Course, and teaching inclusion sections of both Algebra I and Algebra II. I continued to expand my online skillset by teaching online during the pandemic as well as tutoring with Varsity Tutors in my spare time.